Millions of dollars are going unclaimed by taxpayers who have failed to apply for a near-automatic refund on a long-distance telephone excise tax that has been invalidated by a court decision.
April 11, 2007 (Press Release) --
Millions of dollars are going unclaimed by taxpayers who have failed to apply for a near-automatic refund on a long-distance telephone excise tax that has been invalidated by a court decision.
"We're seeing a lot of money being left on the table," Jesse Weller, a spokesman for the Internal Revenue Service in Northern California, said Tuesday, one week before this year's April 17 deadline for filing federal and state income-tax returns. "We're trying out darndest to get the word out."
In California alone, about 1.6 million, or 29 percent, of 5.6 million early filers failed to seek the special one-time refund that was conceived after a federal court ruled in 2006 that a 3 percent excise tax on long-distance calls had been unfairly collected from March 2003 to June 2006. That means $47 million has gone unclaimed among Californians so far this tax season, Weller said.
The one-time refund for 2006 will be the most wide-reaching in IRS history, with more than 160 million filers eligible. The IRS has estimated that from $10 billion to $13 billion in refunds would be sought by individuals, families and businesses in light of the court decision.
Consumer groups had argued that the excise tax was unfair in light of today's billing practices that bundle together local and long-distance services.
Taxpayers don't need to document their long-distance records to seek the refund. Under a formula adopted by the IRS, each taxpayer who had any type of phone service during the March 2003-to-June 2006 period is entitled to a refund of $30 to $60, depending on marital status and number of dependents.
Individuals also may seek larger payments if they can document long-distance charges. A person who ran up $4,000 worth of long-distance bills in the 41-month period, for example, would be entitled to a $120 refund.
A person who already filed returns but failed to claim the long-distance refund may do so by filing an amended return.
For the second straight year, a quirk in the calendar pushed the tax filing deadline from April 15 to April 17. Last year, April 15 fell on a Saturday. This year, it falls on a Sunday. Taxpayers were given a second extra day because April 16 was recently designated as Emancipation Day, a holiday, by the District of Columbia. Under federal statutes, local legal holidays in Washington, D.C., also affect tax matters.
Author: Scott Duke Harris
Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/
"We're seeing a lot of money being left on the table," Jesse Weller, a spokesman for the Internal Revenue Service in Northern California, said Tuesday, one week before this year's April 17 deadline for filing federal and state income-tax returns. "We're trying out darndest to get the word out."
In California alone, about 1.6 million, or 29 percent, of 5.6 million early filers failed to seek the special one-time refund that was conceived after a federal court ruled in 2006 that a 3 percent excise tax on long-distance calls had been unfairly collected from March 2003 to June 2006. That means $47 million has gone unclaimed among Californians so far this tax season, Weller said.
The one-time refund for 2006 will be the most wide-reaching in IRS history, with more than 160 million filers eligible. The IRS has estimated that from $10 billion to $13 billion in refunds would be sought by individuals, families and businesses in light of the court decision.
Consumer groups had argued that the excise tax was unfair in light of today's billing practices that bundle together local and long-distance services.
Taxpayers don't need to document their long-distance records to seek the refund. Under a formula adopted by the IRS, each taxpayer who had any type of phone service during the March 2003-to-June 2006 period is entitled to a refund of $30 to $60, depending on marital status and number of dependents.
Individuals also may seek larger payments if they can document long-distance charges. A person who ran up $4,000 worth of long-distance bills in the 41-month period, for example, would be entitled to a $120 refund.
A person who already filed returns but failed to claim the long-distance refund may do so by filing an amended return.
For the second straight year, a quirk in the calendar pushed the tax filing deadline from April 15 to April 17. Last year, April 15 fell on a Saturday. This year, it falls on a Sunday. Taxpayers were given a second extra day because April 16 was recently designated as Emancipation Day, a holiday, by the District of Columbia. Under federal statutes, local legal holidays in Washington, D.C., also affect tax matters.
Author: Scott Duke Harris
Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/
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